live dealers Archives - DealerRefresh

March 22 by Jeff Kershner -

Live Dealer Chat – Exclusive Interview with Contact At Once!

Last week’s announcement by Autotrader.com, combined with previous announcements by Cars.com and other

automotive website providers, shines the spotlight on live dealer live chat.

Many of us are asking questions about what this means for our dealerships, so I conducted an exclusive interview with Marc Hayes, the founder and head of products for Contact At Once! whose software powers the live chat features on both Autotrader.com and Cars.com.

Jeff: What are the implications of last week’s Autotrader.com announcement?

Marc: The broad implication is that, if live chat wasn’t already a mainstream technology in automotive retail, it is now. The momentum behind dealer chat has been building for several years with adoption by Cars.com, CarsDirect, and others. Now Autotrader.com has implemented chat. Dealers that don’t already have a chat strategy will need to develop one.

Jeff: Chat is a 15+ year old technology so, unlike other trends born of “new” technologies, such as social networking, why is chat just now trending in automotive retail?

Piss Poor User Experience / Usability
I've been in the market for a car and have run into some fairly bad sites. Most of you probably already know, but there are still a ton of poorly designed, unusable websites, apps, plug-ins, etc. out there. It should help dealers actually, they should go to the 3rd party and make... Piss Poor User […]
Looking to open Independent Dealership
Hello, I'm hoping that this might be a good place to post my plan and get feedback on it. Firstly, I'm from DFW (Texas) I've been in IT for the last 20+ years and currently make a six figure salary. I'm 48 years old. That being said I feel dead, tired of working for someone […]
Equity Mining Solutions
We recently signed up with Xtream Service for our equity mining and we love what we've seen so far. (Two sales in a week). My question is to anyone using any of the equity software solutions (Autobase, Xtream, Auto Alert) what is a best practice for mining the Service Lane customer that we... Equity Mining […]
What in the Heck is Going On With my Dealer.com sites in Google SRP's?????
Guys, Is anyone else having this issue with their websites when they do a "site:www.your-dealership-web-address.com" search on Google ???????? I have page titles that say my dealership is in all other parts of the freaking country with... What in the Heck is Going On With my Dealer.com sites in Google SRP's?????
CarGuru's 100% Rate Increase!! 2nd time in 2 years
Hello all, I received a nice "Happy New Year" email from Carguru's stating that my rate would be increasing Feb 1st by 100%. I can continue with Carguru's at this new rate or my account would be cancelled. Carguru's has taken us from $750.00 monthly to $2620.00 and now in Feb to $5640.00. All... CarGuru's […]
Setting up a Photo Booth
We handle all of our inventory photography inhouse. Our grounds lack a decent spot to shoot our vehicles away from other inventory and ugly parts of the facility. We are looking into assembling a photo area in an empty service bay. I'm trying to keep this as high-speed, low-drag as... Setting up a Photo Booth
Internet & eCommerce Pay
We are beginning to see a trend on RefreshFriday when we have eCommerce Directors, CMOs, or Internet Managers from dealerships on the show. That trend is one against Internet leads. It looks like the tip of the spear has moved away from being paid on Internet lead conversions a few years ago... Internet & eCommerce […]

Jeff Kershner
I’m the founder of DealerRefresh. I got my start in the dealer business when I was 18. From there I've worked throughout several departments within fixed to variable ops. Whether it’s managing the desk, perfecting sales process or studying online marketing and media trends, I absolutely love this business and the challenges it brings. On top of keeping up with DealerRefresh, I consult with dealerships and key industry businesses. My passion has been and continues to be helping dealers leverage new media to sell and improve customer service.
Alex Snyder
Alex was born into the car business. His family owns a group of stores in Virginia where he held a multitude of positions since he first cut the grass there in 1989. DealerRefresh caught his attention in 2006 and he has been a part of the community ever since. In 2010 Alex joined Dealer.com to help put a dealer's spin on products; where he got a front row seat to converse with over 13,000 dealers and watch 2 acquisitions totaling over $5 Billion. Today, Alex lives in Vermont and works to make DealerRefresh amazing!